I just scored a $99. lifetime sub on my 1 year old XL4. Sequence of events was I purchased Roamio Pro about a month ago with the AP code. I transferred my monthly service from the XL4 to the Roamio and started a new monthly on the XL4 just to keep it active to transfer shows and season passes and watch the copy protected shows that wouldn't transfer. The new monthly had a 30 day money back guarantee so the plan was to cancel before the 30 day mark. I called to do that and inquired about lifetime sub cost. The best they would do is $199. so I agreed to cancel. When I got the confirmation email I looked at the serial # they canceled and it was my new Roamio. I called back in a little ticked over all the time I was wasting over their mistake. I had a very understanding pleasant rep and she was able to get the $99. lifetime sub approved. She also mentioned a possible low monthly plan for 9.95 or less. I went for the lifetime being I will most likely sell the XL4.

I was real surprised today, I called to cancel service on my last remaining XL4, and the lady I spoke with kept asking me what I was going to do with the box, give it away, sell it on Ebay, sell to a friend, and I said no its going in the closet with the others for now. I paid too much money to just give it to someone. She asked me would I be interested in the $99 lifetime deal and I jumped on it! I was kinda shocked she gave it to me on a year old box, but really happy to keep one of the old girls on subscription. I probably shouldve asked if I couldve gotten it on one of the 2 tuner models and used it for over the air, but I think if I decide to sell the XL4 I could get more money out of it.

Best I could do on a 2 year old 2 tuner Premier was the normal $199 most others are getting or she gave me the option of a 6.95 monthly plan with no commitment. I decided to take the $199 and keep the box since this is my original TiVo that future service discounts are based on.

I first got TIVO in 2/2011, bought the 2 year extension and it died after 1 year. They sent a replacement and since it was a new unit, I had to buy another 2 year extension. I did.

Since 2011 I was on a monthly plan and decided I did not want to pay a monthly so I called asking for a deal. This was in December of 2013, almost 3 years (2 months short) They offered none. I called about a week later and asked for the 99 lifetime, they refused so I told them to cancel. He talked me into "thinking about it" for 3 months free, I said ok.

A month later I decided to try to get the 99 deal again, no budging on their end. Said I did not qualify. So in January 2014, I canceled TIVO. They tried to talk me into selling it on CL or eBay; or give to someone who would use it. I told them it would stay in my closet.

I only use TIVO to pause and rewind, very seldom. Mostly when someone would call or I had to take a BR break. I have a cable card in it and do not miss cable (had very few channels). I am angry with TIVO. I sent an email to them showing how I paid over $700 over the 2 years and 11 month (including everything) and others were getting deals. No budging.

in 35 months I paid them 659.63 in monthly fees and 59.90 in extended warrantees!

So it sits, and will. At this point, even though I miss it just a tiny bit, it has become principle.

So it sits, and will. At this point, even though I miss it just a tiny bit, it has become principle.

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I think you're missing the point of the policy deal being talked about here: the deal is if you buy a new Roamio and subscribe it, then you are offered the $99 lifetime on the old Premiere that's been subscribed for 3 years. That way TiVo gets an additional subbed unit on their records (looks nice to investors).

Nobody at TiVo has ever said there is a 3 year policy deal for retention (there's no extra sub for them to report), and very few folks have ever gotten it throughout the years (and people have been trying and complaining for years.) You're in good company.

Agree, poster is missing the point. Has to be subscribed for 3 years, one your anniversary they will offer $99. Subscribed not what you are paying per month. The Tivo can't be sitting in a closet without a subscription to get teh deal.
I am paying $99 a year from an old deal. I just paid $99 for the year, still have 11 months but unit is just over 3 years old. My next scheduled plan in November is... yes... $99 lifetime.

My Premier that was 2 years and 1 months old, they offered me $199 lifetime on and I took it. Still had 11 months extended warranty on it. I sold it and made double what lifetime cost but yest still did not recoup ALL that I've spent but it was a bit helpful.

Just got off the phone with Tivo and found a little more detail about the offers for lifetime service esp relating to those who have purchased used Premieres.

One key on inactive Premieres is that they must be less than 30 days active, if they have been inactive for more then most likely they won't be eligible for $99 or $199 lifetime service.

I have 3 Premieres and all of them had been inactive for longer than 30 days and the best off for lifetime service was at the $399 multi-discount fee which is NUTS!

As I explained to the rep. there is no way I can justify spending $400 on lifetime service on 4-5 year old Tivo and I guess I'm going to take the power supplies and hard drives out and throw them out. might be a interest later in the parts as Tivo has no interest in re-subscribing them at a affordable rate as being inactive for more than 30 days they don't even qualify for the less expensive monthly rate.

A word of advice for anyone selling used ones, it would be worth more in resale value for you to keep them on you account active if possible rather than take them off and let them sit while you look for a buyer, I thought for sure the ones I had hadn't been inactive for very long but then again 30 days isn't that long but the ones I have are of no value as if I going to even pay the regular monthly rate, I would buy a refurbished 4 tuner Premiere from the Tivo outlet store online.

After being a 20 minute call to Tivo. I really question what their successful business plan is, granted the new Roameo is a good Tivo but they old Tivo are going to filling up the landfill at this rate since Tivo has very little interest in used Tivos.

Yea, I know. I was willing to pay $199 but instead they won't get anything but I do know I'm not giving up and I will try a couple more call in before I call it quits since there is a history of different customer service reps giving different deals.

One thing weird, one of the used Tivo I called in apparently had no service history which I found odd which implies someone had it and never activated it.

Two weeks ago (3/3/14) I called Tivo and told them that I would like to buy my friend's Tivo Basic (TCD746320). My friend was on the line with me. His Tivo is less than 3 years old...activated on 7/7/11 (see attached pic of my tivo.com account), but he has been regularly paying his monthly fee every month since then. So at this point he only had it activated for 2 years 8 months.

I asked how much would it cost for the lifetime and was told $199. I balked and said I would not pay $200 for a 3-year old tivo, since I already had a Tivo Premiere and this was meant to be an additional Tivo. I said I would only buy his tivo off him if the lifetime was offered at $99. After she played the game of "let me look into what I can do", she then came back a few minutes later and said, yes.

SO - this whole thing of at least 3-years of subscription to avail of the $99 lifetime is nonsense. It is really arbitrary and up to them. I can see that it may need to be at least 2 years on month-to-month subscription or even close to 3-years but as my case proved, it doesn't need to be full 3-years to avail of $99 lifetime. But if this is your first or only tivo, your leverage may be less.

BTW, the Roamio (in pic) is not mine any longer though it is listed under me for some reason . I bought the Roamio to avail of MSD on lifetime and then sold it to this same friend who donated me his Tivo Basic, the one I got $99 lifetime for.

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I just cancelled my TIVO service and was told I am 2 months away from getting the special $99 lifetime offer. I cancelled anyway. Bright House cable finally released a High Def user interface and programming guide, which is now in the same league as the TIVO UI/Programming guide, so I went back to the BH Cisco DVR, which doesn't have popup ads and gives me access to On Demand functions which the TIVO did not. I would have kept my TIVO active if it was an all-in-one box, but its not. I use ROKU for streaming since TIVO doesn't offer Amazon Prime so there wasn't really a need to stay wit TIVO. I have loved my TIVO DVR but they haven't kept up with the times, letting the cable companies improve their DVRs and software to better compete.